The Mistake
by SpeedyAlchemist
Summary: Set after the Events of Episode 22 of the Original Fullmetal Alchemist with some directly based and written by interpretation. Edward Elric is forced to make a difficult choice, to save his brother's life or the lives of prisoners wrongly gathered for sacrifice. Sometimes, despite the best intentions, life can punish you for hesitating.
1. Chapter 1 Circumstances

The Mistake

Chapter One "Circumstances"

Edward could not make a sound for the immense weight on his shoulders was crushing him on the inside. He lay on his hands and knees, begging for some twist of fate that he never truly believed in. His younger brother's soul had been bonded to that suit of armor, all that connected Alphonse to his world was that seal Edward had drawn there with his own blood, and now it was being threatened by creatures that were only said to exist in myths. Three of them stood there, Lust, the one with raven black hair, another large one with drool running down its mouth known as Gluttony, and the one who had kicked him in the face with the hate-filled look in its eyes, Envy.

Envy towered over Edward with an impatient glare, at a second's notice he would love nothing more than to crack open his head, or pierce him, or beat him, or anything else that he could let out his bitterness; only a thin line of self-interest kept him from doing so.

This was impossible, what was he going to do? The floor was so cold and yet it glowed with the pink substance he now knew to be made of human lives. Humans, they were people, and they expected him to…

Slowly, the one known as Lust removed Alphonse's helmet and tauntingly reached her outstretched nails to pierce the seal of blood, his lifeline, his soul. Edward's heart felt like it had stopped when he heard the sound of Alphonse's gasp as her hand was laid over it, ready to pierce it and shatter it into pieces like she had done with the former-murderer just seconds before. Nothing in heaven or hell mattered to Edward aside from his brother, they had both given up so much and yet this artificial woman was about to cheat Edward out the last thing he had left.

"No! Please don't hurt him!" Edward cried out desperately as if he were the one whose soul was being filed off. "Please don't take him away I'm begging you!"

Alphonse interrupted him, calmly and solemnly. "Ed. It's ok, what am I, after all?"

Al's mind was clouded with questions that he knew he would never find the answers to. Was he human at all in the shell he was in? Alphonse had lost hope; he did not give in out of selflessness but out of complete acceptance.

Ed recognized that he had already lost and there was nothing he could do to stop this moral decision to either choose his brother or the life of the prisoners the homunculi had gathered in order to forge a philosopher's stone.

"Don't give up on me now Al, k?!" Edward's determination had gotten him far in life but now it was to work against him; he could not sit back and watch Al get killed.

He clasped his hands together despite his metal shoulder being dislocated and performed alchemy on the ground to absorb the materials there. He then transmuted the ceiling's circle larger in order to create an array. For Al, it was like torture to lay there helpless while his brother made a tragic choice to not let the cards fall as they may. Ed's voice had been flowing with concern and fear, fear of loss, the kind of fear the two brothers were far too used to.

Gluttony backed the men into the corner, they were now just as helpless as Al and Edward could not erase their looks toward him from his mind. They were crying out in silence and yet Edward could hear it, echoing in his mind, pleading with him not to take their lives… but he still continued to move the unfinished ingredients into place, for to him, the first gasp from Alphonse was louder.

"Brother, no! You can't do this, it's not worth it!" Alphonse did not even know if he was truly human at all, but he did know the prisoners were.

Scar passed by with frustration directed towards Ed for not destroying him while he had the chance, he was about to do something morally wrong on every level but something made him, wait, hoping that he would come to his senses.

Edward's hands were barely moving under the complete drain of will power, they hung down as if they did not belong to him at all and numbed him to the harsh reality. This was it, he was going to transmute living human beings in order to save his younger brother, and he had no choice. He took one last good look at the prisoners, trying to meet every face which he was sure would continue to be in his nightmares for the rest of his life, calling to him for the unjust execution.

"Quit doing this Brother, these-these people, they're-they're human!" Al was again interrupted but this time by Envy speaking. "Yeah, and soon you and I will be. So what's your problem?"

"I don't wanna get my old body back if it means having to take someone else's life!" Al said with a trembling voice.

"Huh, I thought for sure you and your older brother would have gotten the message after your pathetic attempt to bring Mommy back. You've gotta spin life to make life." Envy grinned. "Come on, this is basic alchemy here, don't kid yourself into thinking there's some way around that, cause there's not. As they say, death is the high cost of living."

"In order to gain anything in life, you inevitably have to take it from someone else." Lust crossed her arms patiently waiting for Edward's most drastic use of alchemy. "That is what any honest adult knows."

"But we're not adults!" Al protested.

"When Edward decided to sign up with the State Alchemist, he gave up all claims to childhood in exchange for power. So don't start behaving like a child now because you can't have it both ways."

"I see now… this is really the truth… behind all truths…" Edward's eyes had no fire lit in them, instead a cold sad faded color of one who had nothing left to do but give up with morality.

When he had absorbed everything and chose his own form of acceptance, Edward moved his two beaten and bruised limbs together… and clapped… "I promised… that I'd get you your body back… no matter what."

The whole room froze in a silence that pierced Edward hard, not even Alphonse could offer any form of speech for the tension that only came in the death of someone, entered into the room. He came closer and closer to the floor, where the circle was, his hands were trembling, a few inches and he would take the lives of all those people. In a surge of conscience Edward's strength and force of will was weighing and he had decided that he could not do it… but his automail shoulder had still been dislocated in his fight with the Slicer-Brothers…

Edward watched in horror as his hand was jolted downwards and the weight of it brought down his other hand. It was only an honest reaction… human beings instinctively use their hands when falling… but this time it did more damage than anything physically ever could have.

The circle lit up in a violent reddish color until it engulfed the entire room. Screams rang out and the prisoners watched as their cellmates evaporated into nothing but red-colored-dust floating in the air until they themselves joined them. Edward had performed a transmutation, and though by mistake, killed all those people he had chosen to save even in the place of his younger brother.

Lust's eyes lit up in hopeful bliss for a stone could make her human, instead of the lifeless doll she was thought to be.

Edward fell on his back, unable to breathe or make any sound of any kind. The ingredients were all gone… all of it… and it their place a pure stone said to be capable of miracles.

"No! I… I didn't mean it!" Edward's formally cold eyes were filled with remorse and guilt that stabbed him at every look through them.

"Way to go, Pipsqueak, I didn't think you had it in you." Envy said this so causally and walked right passed him, paying his hand on the stone.

Al was stunned; no words could express what he was experiencing right now. He was a soul in an empty husk and yet he watched Edward press his hands together and kill every last prisoner until there was nothing left of them.

Edward looked back at Alphonse suddenly and although he had no way of letting Edward know how he was feeling, Ed sensed it, and it hit him.

Lust moved her hand across the stone Envy was carrying over his shoulder and fully intended on keeping her end of the bargain.

"Now now Edward, be a good boy and fix your brother so we can go." Lust said with her luscious voice.

Envy snarled. "Over my dead body! We don't owe anything to that BRAT!"

Lust showed slight irritation on her otherwise flawless demeanor. "Our Master will decide what happens to them, until then a Lady never breaks her word."

Edward forgot that they were even there, he watched as Alphonse remained silent while Edward himself was breaking inside. He really killed all those people, his automail was only attached by a few wires now and yet he had managed to have taken something from Alphonse in the process, his kind nature.

"Al I didn't mean it! You've got to believe me! I swear, it was an accident!" Edward longed to hear Alphonse speak and reassure him but he thought that he did not deserve him. "I promise it was a mistake!"

End Chapter


	2. Chapter 2 What Was Left Und

Chapter 2 "What Was Left Undone"

Envy grabbed Edward by the scruff of his hair and pulled him towards him. There was pure animosity enveloped in his violet artificial eyes for being human meant nothing to Envy, all that mattered was punishing someone of whom Edward had no knowledge. "I want you to lose everything! Should I start with your LIFE?!"

Edward didn't meet his eye line as he might have; it was like his soul was draining out of him slowly and his eyes held in place.

Alphonse's breath let out again but he still remained destitute as an empty shell. Was he his brother's brother or a fabrication? If the latter was true than the lives lost was a larger toll than either he or Edward could ever pay back. There was one thing Alphonse's heart told him, Edward did not deserve to die.

…it was like Edward had frozen in time, the sound of his automail breaking and the echoing screams were repeating in his mind over and over again. He did not even see Envy or feel the pain of his hair being pulled on his head, there was nothing but what happened, and a lack of strength to get passed it.

Envy was losing his patience as Edward did not so much as blink in acknowledgement of him. He arose and started wailing on him with his fist repeatedly until Edward was forced to make a sound, pain was coursing through Edward's body as Envy took out his frustration out on him and it only stopped when Lust brought her outstretched nails to the back of Envy's neck in defiance.

Lust held the stone Envy had carelessly set down before tight as if it resonated with the beating of her own heart and the desperation seeped through her voice. "Did you not hear a word I said? I want him to make us human, are you so foolish as to throw it all away when we're this close?!"

Envy's voice was vile and angry. "I never had anything to throw away. That Bastard gave it all to HIM and his damn brother."

Alphonse stared at Edward, laying there with lowered eyes as blood ran down his forehead from the beating Envy gave him. He took it all and didn't lift a finger to stop it but now he could see property, he could see Al in pieces next to Gluttony as it drooled on the floor beside him, he could see the whole room had been wiped clean like a newly erased chalkboard, devoid of all life aside the broken mess that remained of their spirits. Lust's nails retracted as Envy got off of Edward, content knowing that once they had what they came for he could rip into Edward like tissue paper.

Lust set the stone in front of Edward and spoke to him with her smooth charismatic voice. "Now Edward, why don't you be a good boy and turn us all human? You'll get what you wanted, won't you? Your brother's right there waiting for you."

The transmutation circle remained on the floor and the glow of the stone set there, reflecting Edward's beaten and broken-self laying there in defeat. In the shine of the stone he saw Alphonse's suit of armor, at the mercy of these monsters, and only that was enough to make him raise his body from the ground.

As if all his mind could process was the promise he had made to his brother, he pulled his automail to the base of his arm and snapped it back on. It was beyond fixing but his body still sent signals through his nerves, though he had little more movement than in his actual hand.

He dragged himself to the middle of the room and began to create a circle, the same one he had used to attempt to bring back his fallen mother. Alphonse was no longer reacting in shock but rather in disbelief; he could not believe Ed had gone passed the point of no return. If Edward did not give Al his body back than all those lives lost would be for nothing, that's what he kept telling himself but Alphonse did not see it that way. Alphonse saw the blood aside Edward's face; he heard the cackling of Gluttony beside him, he saw the devious smile on Lust's face, and the loathing like a mad dog of its chain in Envy.

The circle was complete and Edward confirmed it with his voice. "It's done…"

"Bring the brother." Lust told Gluttony but Edward shot her down.

"No! Nobody touches him or I don't do it." Edward knew he had no command to keep them from hurting Al unless he held what they wanted for ransom.

"How do we know you'll keep your end of the deal?" Envy antagonized him with pleasure.

"Equivalent Exchange… I can't break that principle." Edward's words barely left his lips as he walked over to his brother.

He laid his hand on Alphonse gently and with care but flinched when he heard Alphonse's voice. "You don't have to do this!"

Edward had to close his eyes in order to stop any tears from flowing. "I won't leave you like this when it's my fault! I won't let you stay like this!"

Alphonse's soul was weary and tired for he was unable to cry as Edward was close to doing, he was no more full of live than the homunculi standing in waiting. The stone was so sacred and unholy it defied all the laws of god or creation and it scared Al to merely be in the same room with it.

Edward continued to push his little brother to the circle and set him there. He didn't see Al as the suit of armor; to him it was no different than picking a little Alphonse up when they were children, carrying his little brother to the room to play.

"You'll be ok; I'll have you good as new." Edward backed up to the base of the circle and wore a forced smile on his face, trying to right the wrongs he had done knowing there was nothing he could do to make up for it now.

"Brother, if you won't listen to me than there's no way it'll ever be ok." Alphonse didn't have to say it because Edward was already thinking it.

A tear fell passed Edward's defenses and he bit his lip, unable to help weeping for the hell he was again putting his younger brother through. His hands were all he had, what he could do to regain what was taken from him was in his grasp but Al didn't want it…

If he didn't they would both surly be killed, there was little holding Envy back as it was and if he refused Al could be in harm's way and there was nothing in this world that could cause Edward to take that chance. Or at least… he thought there wasn't… he hesitated with the prisoners before.

He clapped his hands with more determination, he had to for his arm was held up by little more than cords and the force he gave it to push it back in again. Just as he did when he was a boy, he activated the circle without respect for the laws of alchemy.

End chapter


	3. Chapter 3 The Gate

Chapter Three "The Gate"

A light like the very source of all light itself set forth from the circle and enveloped Alphonse's armor. Red colored markings wrapped around him and summoning him. Edward immediately regretted his decision when he heard Al screaming bloody murder, there was no human alive that could be calm when faced up against the ultimate unknown.

"Al!" Edward stood up and ran towards him but it was too late, Al was being taken to the Gate.

Alphonse could see things that would give anyone terror for the rest of their lives, flashes of different things and lives he'd never known, his mother's hand reaching out for him…

"Mom?!" Alphonse's armor was still very little; he could not even reach out for her.

As if only a fraction of a second had gone by, Alphonse found himself in front of a door of stone. He heard a voice that was completely silent, a contradictory and almost an instinct rather than anything tangible.

There was no equivalent exchange; the stone had taken the lives it required. The gate made a loud creaking sound as it opened, like the gate in his back yard that had needed oiled only to a far larger extent. Arms of black shot out of it and grabbed at him from all around, Al's soul was touched and for the first time in a very long time he had the actual sensation of touch as the gate took hold of him.

He now understood what Edward and Izumi were talking about. Edward saw it as the gate of truth and Izumi as the gate that entered hell but what Alphonse saw was… life. It was life itself, for he could feel it flowing into him now. Everything was so pure, even the dark creatures that tried to latch onto him. The suit of armor started eroding away and instead of feeling fear he was very calm; it was not an ugly thing to be erased he thought, maybe his brother could make another artificial creature to replace him and fill the empty heart he had. He was still convinced that Alphonse was never a person to begin with; that in all of Edward's grief and sorrow he came from a thought or a notion of another he could be close to after losing his mother.

"Brother…" Alphonse thought this would be his last words and his last thoughts as the light came up to the base of his blood seal, instead something quite different happened.

When all that was left was the seal of his brother's blood something new was being created, like the dolls Edward and Alphonse had used to make as children.

Alphonse's rubbed out eyes formed again but new and glimmering. He could see brown hair in front of his face and a hand he could see and touch with. Within a few soft moments of what he thought was going to be the end of his existence shaped a new one, his blood seal was now gone but the spirit streamed into this vessel where it belonged. Breath shot out of his lounges as if it was the first one he ever took and he fell through white light, a path of memories from all the time he and Edward had spent together, good and bad. He was experiencing an overflow of emotions, sorrow, regret and sadness, hope, happiness and care for others, all that went into being a human being.

Only this was able to convince Alphonse that he was real for none of those things he saw could possibly be a fabrication; he would not be so whole, he would be empty as he was when he thought Edward had deceived him.

The first thing he saw was Edward's pained look on his face turned to astonishment as he was brought into the world of the living, laying there on the floor in flesh and blood as the stone partially vanished from the exchange.

"Al…Alphonse…?" Edward moved towards him slowly, he could not believe his eyes.

He did get what he wanted; Al was complete again, but at a cost. He was only able to put those thoughts aside when he saw his brother there back to being a boy again, as if no time had passed since that day.

"Brother…?" Alphonse's speech was hoarse as he had not used his vocal cords in a very long time.

Edward's voice was teary as he inhaled and he ran to him with no regard for the homunculi standing there in waiting, Edward tore the shirt off of himself and set it on Al to clothe him, and wrapped his arms around him as tears fell to the ground. He was warm again, he was alive again; his soul was within his body again, it was indescribable how Edward felt. Alphonse did not cry. Al's eyes were still heavy as his spirit had been but he shared in the love for his brother and he hugged him back. Everything was as if he were experiencing it for the first time so holding Edward's broken body was both tragic but comforting. They were going to have to live with what they did but at least they had each other again.

Alphonse looked down with his fresh eyes and saw Edward's automail was barely able to hold onto him, his brother was still not himself as Al now was. There were still things left undone but he was not sure if the exchange would cost Edward his life in the process. Alphonse would not consider it any more than that, he didn't forget all the prisoners that had been murdered by those hands that were hugging him right now but he could not find it within himself to punish Edward any further for it. Every time Edward would see his brother he was going to remember it, so that was enough of a trade he thought.

Edward was crying his eyes out so hard Al felt the droplets on the back of his neck. Slowly, Alphonse moved upwards and then tied the shirt around him, knowing what was coming next. Lust approached Edward who was still on his knees behind Al. Alphonse stood protectively in front of him as he stood on his own legs at last. Envy smirked, loving the sting it was going to give Edward to return the favor.

Lust had been patient up until now; she desperately wanted what she was not. "It's time to keep your word."

Edward wiped his eyes and stood up; setting his hand on Alphonse's shoulder to let him know it was still going to be done. Al wanted so badly to ignore equivalent exchange, these things tried to murder both of them so many times and now Edward was in debt to them. Even now, Alphonse thought Edward never should have agreed to it, all the joys in being himself again were nothing compared to the longing for his brother to be free of these burdens.

Edward was happy but also very scared; he did not want to lose Alphonse ever again. "Al, you need to leave…"

Alphonse understood the look in his eye, what he was telling him without speaking words. Edward still had Envy to deal with, he was not going to be satisfied until he had Edward dead but it wouldn't stop there if Al was present. Alphonse would not stay silent this time; he was able to do something.

"No, I'll do it." Alphonse's words brought a rise out of Edward.

"No you won't, this is my burden to bear." Edward said firmly.

Alphonse was not going to let him do this; it was too great a risk.

"Your body is still incomplete!" Alphonse's voice rose so that Edward flinched under the surprise of it. "You didn't receive anything out of this deal so you don't owe anything to them! I do! The only thing you got in return was beaten! I won't let you do this!"

End chapter


	4. Chapter 4 Chaos

Chapter Four "Chaos"

Lust brought out her claws towards Alphonse's chest like a vampire admiring her pray, nails over his heart leaving Alphonse paralyzed once again. "I've had enough of this little soap opera. Edward, make us human or I'll kill him here and now."

Edward gritted his teeth in anger and frustration. "Leave him alone! I already told you I would, _damn you!_"

Envy too had lost patience and grabbed Edward by the scruff of his shirt until he raised him off the ground with brute strength. "DO IT. I'm looking forward to dismembering you afterwards!"

And in that moment, Scar was the one who was finished standing by and the wall of the lab basement blew. Scar's vengeance all about his being so thick you could reach out and touch it in the air.

"Fullmetal, take your brother and get out of here!" He said as he clasped his hand, ready to take over from here.

"I don't need any help from you!" Edward still had the bitterness towards him for killing Nina left to jab at him, but Scar didn't argue.

"I'm sure you don't, but right now your brother needs you." He said solemnly.

The paces they had lost in the explosion did not force Gluttony or Lust to hesitate; they ran towards Scar with malicious intent. Envy however, was far too focused on Edward now. In the commotion he had let Edward back to his feel and out of his grasp, but in Edward's state it would not be too difficult to cut into him. His breath was hot and his body was boiling with rage and now there was nothing in his way. Envy didn't need to be human, he didn't care either way; the only true thing he cared about was stealing everything from Edward.

Edward grabbed Alphonse's hand for what had to be the first time in years and pulled him to his feet. "Come on! We have to get out of here!"

Alphonse was still in the past, wondering why he had to come back this way. When he looked down at his skin he hated it, he hated that he could feel the warmth in Edward's hand as they rushed toward the hole in the wall Scar had created; none of it rightly belonged to him. In some ways, he was more a monster now than he ever was in the suit of armor because his flesh was made up of the materials Edward had transmuted…

Envy came up from behind Edward, pushing Alphonse out of the way, and Edward was forced to stop… there, Envy had formed a knife with his ever changing form like a demon, and cut right into the back of the socket above Edward's shoulder. Alphonse shuttered as Edward screamed out, trying to grab the metal monstrosity Envy had formed in his back. Alphonse gritted his teeth and pulled Edward towards him, separating Envy from Edward and set in front of him like a shield. Edward held onto the wound with his one good hand, this was all happening so fast he couldn't process it.

Envy grinned viciously; Alphonse was just as guilty as Edward was because he too replaced him. He would have gladly sliced into Alphonse as well but another interruption stayed his hand. A blast shook the entire room but this was not from Scar's grotesque alchemy.

Everyone there jerked their heads back at the commanding voice of Armstrong, a tall muscular man that broke through the wall like it were made of tissue paper. "STAY BACK!"

There, in a line were several Military Officers all lined up with rifles in hand. Edward would have called out to them if the pain did not force him to his knees. The Fuhrer was among them and something about him made Envy snarl, weather he recognized him or something else entirely was lost to Alphonse, but he noticed it.

Like birds fleeing from a gunshot in the woods, the three Homunculi disappeared into the hallway Scar had cleared, Lust taking the stone they had so carefully formed. There were at least forty officers firing several times but none of them reached them, they did however, find a new target. The Military was completely oblivious to anything but the mere concept of a Homunculus, what they all knew by heart however were the reports on the Alchemist killer, Scar. There Scar was, pinned by the many guns, standing in front of an injured Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist. In only an hour Edward had killed several people, mistake or not, returned his brother's soul to the flesh and blood, and nearly made monsters into human beings. It was almost not real to Edward, like he had been watching this person do all this and reflecting back, as if he was outside himself. He accepted these were all his decisions but Alphonse had almost died twice, he put him in risk, and even after he made a promise to himself he would never do it again.

Lieutenant Ross's eyes were fixed on Edward, she had such a motherly connection towards these boys and she felt responsible for them. This was as much her fault as it was Edward's in her eyes for she had not watched or protected them like she should have. Then, there was Alphonse, she had never seen him in human form but somehow his glance got across exactly who he was, hunched over Edward and turning up to the Military and Scar.

"Brother's bleeding! You have to help him!" Alphonse knew this was an all new kind of matter now; Scar was in-between him and the military.

Saved Edward or not, he still took the lives of several people, a sin Edward now shared…

It was like all the thoughts of everyone were silently carried across the room, different perspectives, different beliefs, different motives; none of them were the same. Something about the expression that people made when something close to them were threatened resonated; Alphonse was close to tears and filled with worry. Edward was more concerned about his brother than his own pain. It was a collective pain now; they were both hurt far more than anything physically could ever muster.

Scar could use Alchemy, he could create destruction within the very framework of the ground they stood on as he had done before but it would be at the cost of Edward and Alphonse behind him. That would mean that, for whatever reason his gut told him to save the two of them, it was all wasted effort.

It struck Edward like everything out of him was draining, he could tell he was about to lose consciousness. "Al… I'm Sor-" The tired Child State Alchemist fell into his brother's arms devoid of any remaining strength. He did his best, he didn't want things to turn out this way but there were some things just out of his control.

"Edward!" Ross exclaimed; this was just as traumatic to her.

Alphonse yelled out and pressed his hand again to the wound in Edward's shoulder, trying to keep it from flowing out of him. He wanted the sensation of touch for so long but never did he want to know what the feel of Edward's blood leaving his body felt like.

"Help him!" Alphonse screamed as he reared his head back. "Help, please! Brother is… he's going to bleed to death!"

Scar felt like a caged mouse trying to escape through the wheel in the corner, going nowhere. He was trapped, if he chose to save his own life Edward was going to die there in front of Alphonse. He didn't want Alphonse to die, Edward was another story but in his own way he saw Alphonse as somebody he could relate to. He remembered the terror of holding a fallen brother, trying so desperately to protect him, but failing and finding him dead. Scar had tried to save his older brother but was unable to and now Alphonse was faced with possibly the same fate.

With every instinct within him telling him not to, Scar raised his hands up in surrender.

End chapter


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